Coal Secretary Anil SwarupNEW DELHI: The government today said coal imports have dropped for the fourth consecutive month to 14.52 MT in October.

"DGCI&S data reveals that import of coal has come down for the 4th successive month. In October 2015, it is down by 5.10 per cent over October 2014," Coal SecretaryAnil Swarup said in a tweet.

The Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S), under the Ministry of Commerce, is an official organisation for collection, compilation and dissemination of the country's trade statistics and commercial information.

The government is eyeing to achieve 1.5 billion tonnes of coal production by 2020.

Of this 1.5 billion tonnes, one billion tonnes is expected from Coal India which accounts for over 80 per cent of the domestic coal production.

The country's coal import in September 2015 was 12.64 million tonnes (MT) while in the same month of the previous year it was 17.30 MT, according to DGCI&S data.

The country imported 13.93 MT in August 2015 while in August 2014, the coal imports were 14.17 MT, it said.

In July 2015, the country imported 12.82 MT coal, while the coal imports in July 2014 were 17.88 MT.

In another tweet, Swarup said that DGCI&S data reveals a "reduction in coal imports by 4.56 per cent during April-October 2015 over April-October 2014. In value terms, it is Rs 8,287 crore less."

As per Indian Ports Association, the country's top ports imported 55.90 MT thermal coal in April-October period.